Lead Network Engineer

Company Overview:

Samsung SDS is the digital arm of the Samsung group and a global provider of cloud and digital transformation innovations. Samsung SDS delivers enterprise-grade solutions and services in cloud, secure mobility, analytics / AI, digital marketing and digital workspace.  We enable our customers in government, financial services, healthcare, and other industries to drive business in a hyper-connected economy helping them to increase productivity, safeguard assets, and make smarter decisions.

Join Samsung SDS America and be part of the cutting-edge technology at our state-of-the-art Samsung Semiconductor Manufacturing facility in Taylor, TX. We are looking for an experienced Senior Network Engineer to join our dynamic Network Operations Team.

Position Summary:

As a Lead Network Engineer, you will play a critical role as the point of contact for SDSA network operations team for the brand-new state-of-the-art semiconductor fab in Taylor, TX. In this role, besides some management tasks, you will support operation, manage, and implement network projects while resolving complex technical challenges. This position requires, besides a leadership personality, a deep understanding of routing & switching and extensive experience with advanced network technologies such as VPNs, Firewalls, Load Balancers, and Wireless. Your expertise will be essential in ensuring the seamless operation of our network infrastructure, which is vital to our manufacturing environment.
Key responsibilities include providing support to the operations team, assign and follow up on tickets, working on multiple network implementation projects, providing expert support to resolve issue, creating technical and management reports, mentor and provide technical guidance to team members, generate root cause analysis, and participate in an on-call rotation to support operations during and after hours. Ideal candidate should possess exceptional communication skills, leadership skills, adhere to Standard Operation Procedures, and be energetic, great team player, responsible, collaborative, and with a great sense of ownership.

This onsite role requires living within a 1-hour drive from Taylor, TX. Occasional work will be at the Samsung Austin Semiconductor location in northeast Austin, TX for project collaboration and training.

Responsibilities:

• Site Operations Leadership: Main point of contact for SDSA’s network operations team. Assign, address, and follow up on tickets. Represent the local team in management, CAB, and projects meetings. Create management reports. Review and approve network change points. Support manager with incident management and RCA reports. Daily review and follow up on network technician’s report.
• Management support: Participation in candidates screening and interviews. Coordinate and participate in onboarding training for new employees. Mentor engineers in network technologies. Follow and help engineers follow procedures (SOPs). Create new procedures for operations management. First responder and escalation point for network incidents. Collaboration with network strategy team.
• Network Management: Oversee the entire network lifecycle, including the implementation, management, and troubleshooting of network devices to ensure optimal performance and reliability.
• Operational Support: Process system requests/tickets, which include the implementation of network solutions for internal customers, as well as planning, preparation, deployment, monitoring, and documentation. Resolve assigned tickets in a timely manner to provide solutions to internal customers, ensuring minimal disruption to operations.
• Network Design: Support the design and implementation of complex network architectures, including routing, traffic engineering, switching, P2P VPN solutions, network security, and load balancing.
• Escalation Support: Address and resolve escalated network issues from team members and internal customers, delivering timely and effective solutions. Resolve assigned tickets in a timely manner to provide solutions to internal customers.
• Project Implementation: Drive multiple network infrastructure projects, including expansions, upgrades (HW/SW), and improvements, ensuring successful delivery within project timelines.
• Monitoring & Reporting: Proactively monitor network performance, escalate issues, and follow up on resolutions in alignment with internal SLAs. Create detailed reports per management requests and on a weekly basis.
• Lab Testing: Conduct proof-of-concept (POC) testing in a lab environment to validate hardware/software solutions, workarounds, bug fixes, and impact analysis.
• Vendor Collaboration: Liaise with vendors and ISPs for issue escalation, maintenance windows, and RMA processing, ensuring timely resolution of external dependencies.
• Team Support: Review, provide feedback, and approve other team members’ network procedures (Release Plans) to validate technical accuracy for network changes. Participate in Change Management meetings to help answer technical questions and ensure successful implementations. Setup, collect, and analyze packet captures to support the network team and internal customers. Be a team player with a passion for mentoring other team members and a willingness to learn from others.
• Documentation & Knowledge Transfer: Maintain and update network documentation, create completion reports, and conduct knowledge transfers to enhance team capabilities.
• On-Call Support: Participate in a 24/7 on-call rotation, responding to escalation tickets and supporting operations during and after hours as needed. Act as escalation point for the site and follow escalation procedures.

• Compliance & Procedures: Participate in maintenance window planning, coordination, preparation, execution, and monitoring. Adhere to standard operating procedures, configuration standards, and corporate change-control and security policies.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field.
• 10+ years of continuous hands-on experience in large-scale, enterprise-class network operations, including planning, design, implementation, and support, with a focus on Cisco devices (Catalyst, Nexus), Firewalls, and Load Balancers.
• 3+ years leading network teams of at least 3 engineers, fostering team collaboration, and motivating employees to excellence.
• Possess great communications skills, excellence at following procedures, and an outstanding attitude to collaborate with management, peers, and customer.
• Proficient in Power Point, Excel, Word, and Visio.
• CCNP Enterprise or CCIE certification (current or expired within the last 3 years).
• 3+ years of experience with operation and configuration of Palo Alto firewalls.
• Extensive experience with routing protocols (EIGRP, OSPF, BGP, MPBGP, PIM, EVPN) and network technologies (VPNs, IPSec, VPC, STP, MLAG, LACP, VRF, IPv4 subnetting, 802.1x, TACACS+, SYSLOG, High Availability).
• Proficiency in troubleshooting complex network issues, including hardware, L3/L2 problems, application connectivity, and P2P VPN connections.
• Experience with PIM, MSDP, Anycast-RP, and Multicast in a manufacturing environment.
• Strong customer focus, a sense of ownership, urgency, responsibility for network documentation, and a passion for mentoring team members.
• Must reside within a 1-hour drive of Taylor, TX.
• Willing and able to commute to the office 5 days per week.
• Must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S.

 Preferred Qualifications:

• 5+ years being a team leader for a network team of 3 or more.
• Experience supporting networks in large manufacturing environments, particularly within a 24/7 operational context.
• Expertise in high availability network environments.
• Strong background in server network connectivity (Teaming, VPC, LACP).
• Experience with Packet Capture Analysis, SSL certificates.
• Palo Alto Firewalls certification, with at least 5 years of hands-on experience.
• Familiarity with Unix/Linux and scripting in Python, Ansible, or other automation tools is a plus.

Benefits

Samsung SDSA offers a comprehensive suite of programs to support our employees:

• Top-notch medical, dental, vision and prescription coverage
• Wellness program
• Parental leave
• 401K match and savings plan
• Flexible spending accounts
• Life insurance
• Paid Holidays
• Paid Time off
• Additional benefits

Samsung SDS America, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran, marital status, genetic information, medical condition, or any other characteristic protected by law.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to participate in the job application or interview process for candidates with disabilities. Please let your recruiter know if you need an accommodation at any point during the interview process.